


Love is no bed of roses

by Tren



Category: Senyuu.
Genre: Being smitten Ross is suffering, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Very awkward hero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 18:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1521563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tren/pseuds/Tren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a number of inopportunate moments when one may realize he has fallen in love, but there is literally nothing worse than realizing it as you share the bed with the clingy object of your twisted affection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love is no bed of roses

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something more shippy, except I'm kinda unable to write any (how one author I really like puts it) sexy times. I can only write awkward times. Where nothing happens. And this is exactly it.

That day started rather innocently and Ross considered it satisfying. During their travel they met several monsters, so he could watch Alba getting beaten up by them and listen to his pained voice. And as they neared the town he could tease him about his failure at heroism to his heart’s content.

In short, it was a really great day. 

When they arrived in the town it was already night. Alba was completely exhausted, so he almost collapsed at the entrance of the inn, while Ross went in to get them some place to sleep.

He was better at getting discounts anyway.

“Oy, Hero, don’t fall asleep here,” Soldier shook his partner, who almost nodded off waiting for him.

“Did you get us room?” Alba asked yawning.

“Well, I rented the last room they had. However, it only has one big bed so you will have to sleep on the floor, Hero,” he explained showing the keys to the room.

“Don’t be stupid, we will just share it,” Alba was so tired he couldn’t even tsukkomi properly. Ross shrugged and lead him to their room. It was small room meant for couples, but neither of them cared about that. Alba was too tired and Ross considered any sleeping conditions which consisted of bed, roof and lack of monsters a luxury. As he took off his armour he looked critically at his companion.

“At least make sure to get a shower, Hero. You stink of sweat,” he said grimacing.

“Yeah, yeah,” Alba left the room to do so. Ross wondered if Hero will manage to get to the bathroom without bumping into wall and chuckled. He was enjoying his life.

Which was strange.

It’s been more than two months since they started travelling together and Ross honestly didn’t expect to find his current life so satisfying. There was of course his old life as a Creasion which lurked at the back of his mind like an unhealed wound. He knew that Rchimedes could awaken at any time, now that he wasn’t sealing him.

And yet he didn’t. It seemed that as long as Ross won’t use his powers excessively the seal will remain in place and the world will be safe. He will be able to continue his current life.

But was it okay towards Crea? He still remained subjugated. Ross felt guilty about leaving his friend in that state. But what could he do? Despite his research in the past he found no way of extracting Rchimedes soul out of the brunette’s body. In fact, he sealed them, because he reached a dead end. There were no other options. So wasn’t it better to let Crea sleep like that? After all, he would also want him, Sion, to enjoy himself. If Crea was read to give two of his limbs so that his friend would live, then maybe he wouldn’t mind if Ross continues his selfish ways. As Creasion he spent numerous years trying to save Crea and yet he failed. Wasn’t that enough?

The sound of door closing brought him back to reality.

“Soldier, did you fall asleep?” Alba asked. He was wearing a slightly too big white shirt he used as pyjama and boxers. Due to this clothing the freshly acquired scratches and bruises on his limbs were clearly visible. What’s more the still wet hair obscured his forehead making him seem even more innocent than usually. 

Ross, who was lying on the bed with his legs hanging from it, stood up, but for some reason he needed a moment to find words.

“Of course not, I was bored waiting for you,” he answered with his usual unamused face. However, internally he was feeling strange. He had no idea why, but he realized that looking at Alba right now wasn’t the best idea, because… because… for some reason apparently.

“Ah, sorry about the wait,” Alba answered smiling widely despite his weariness.

Something heavy seemed to have settled inside Soldier’s stomach. He quickly went out of the room, while making sure that he doesn’t do it in a rush which would make Alba suspicious.

It was already weird that he was in fact making a strategic retreat.

*

Ross tried to figure out what was happening as he took the shower. Did he eat something bad? It didn’t seem so. His stomach didn’t hurt and since he ate the same things as Alba they would be both nauseous right now if their rations were to blame. It also didn’t look like an illness. Ross tried to concentrate and analyse his condition, as he started to dry himself.

Since there was no indication of outside stimuli being responsible, the logical conclusion was that the feeling of his stomach knotting was caused by his own emotional state. It was slightly similar to the sensation he got when he was stressed, or caught in the middle of violent fight, except right now he felt sort of vulnerable.

It was disconcerting to be honest.

What the hell was he getting so worked up over? In his mind he went over possible causes, but the only thing out of ordinary was this unusual bed assignment.

Wait, was it because he was going to be sleeping in the same bed with someone? It was a weird reason to be worked up over. Sure, Ross had never really shared his blanket with anyone except for that one time, when Crea came for sleepover and it was horrible. Basically, they spent the whole night fighting over blanket and waking each other up, because Crea constantly moved or talked in his sleep and Ross would hit him to make him stop. However, he knew he shouldn’t have this problem with Alba, since he had seen for himself that Hero didn’t move much in sleep. He was in fact a type of heavy sleeper who slept for eight to nine hours without much movement. 

And even if he started moving in his dream, Soldier could always wake him up violently.

So really, there should be no problem.

Except he was feeling more and more agitated the more he thought about it.

Was he overly self-conscious? Maybe it was a problem with overthinking the matter. Yeah, that was probably it. He should just stop contemplating this issue.

Thinking that he entered the room only to cast his eyes on the sleeping Alba. Hero had a somehow happy expression, as he slept soundly on his side. The blanket only half covered him. It seemed he was so tired that he immediately fell asleep. He looked sort of content and… unguarded.

Ross realized that whatever was tormenting him just got worse.

No, that really was stupid. It wasn’t as thought it was a first time he had seen Alba sleeping. They often shared rooms to lower the costs (albeit until now they always got separate beds), so he had seen Alba’s sleeping face many times. There wasn’t anything particular about it today. It looked just like always. Stupid, goofy face filled with sunshine, rainbows and attempted heroism. Yet, the strange warmness that seemed to emanate from his stomach was attempting to spread to the rest of his body.

Ross had a nasty feeling he was overlooking something in his reasoning, but he remained clueless as to what exactly it was. His battle instincts, honed by many years of perilous battles, were telling him to give up sleeping on bed. It was better to take floor this time.

The legendary hero realized how stupid he must have seemed right now. Honestly, fretting over sharing bed with someone? He had lived through battles with the most powerful demons, what danger could possible pose a harmless teenager like Hero?

Ross sighed amusingly to inspirit himself and then, after closing the door and turning off the lights, he took his side of bed. Alba was lying with his back to him. Soldier slipped under the blanket and after short hesitation made sure to move it so that Hero would also be covered. Then he turned on his side so that he also faced the wall rather than his companion.

Nothing happened.

Ross felt himself calming down. Of course nothing would happen. There were no monsters, nor dangers. He closed his eyes, trying to drift to sleep, but his nervousness didn’t disappear completely, so this time it took longer than usual.

And as he was on the verge of falling asleep he suddenly felt something grabbing his shirt. Surprised, he almost shot the magic at the offender, but he stopped himself only to realize what was happening. At some point Alba turned on his other side and then blindly extended his hand to catch whatever his hand landed on.

Which was Ross’ shirt, grabbed near his heart. The heart that was beating very fast, because for a moment he seriously thought someone was attacking him.

Seriously, this dumb Hero…

“Dolt,” he mumbled as he tried to pry Alba’s finger of his shirt, but his efforts were in vain. Hero was clenching his fist as if his life depended on it.

Ross rolled onto his back, so he could turn towards Alba.

“Oy, you stupid Hero, what the…” He started, but the voice died in his throat, because when he turned Alba’s face was very, very close.

Uncomfortably close.

Even in the dark room he could see its outline well.

He could _feel_ Alba’s breath on his face.

He froze and after a short moment once again rolled onto his side, so that he wouldn’t see Alba.

He could feel his face going red and the strange sensation in his stomach has returned with the doubled power.

What the hell, what the hell, what the hell, what the actual fucking hell, what was he…

Ross tried to calm himself. Maybe he had a fever after all? Fever triggered by Hero’s idiotic face? No, that was stupid…

In the first place, why was he in such an incredulous situation?

As if to answer his question he heard a soft muttering behind him, accompanied by a tug of the hand that held his shirt.

“…mm… mister Fluffy….”

Ross wanted to hit something. He couldn’t believe it. He was being mistaken for a stupid stuffed toy?! All his suffering right now was because Hero still couldn’t manage to sleep alone?

At this point he decided to wake Alba up. That’s it. Wake him up and make him sleep on the floor.

However, as Ross attempted to move, the younger boy must have sensed the motion and also shifted to have a better grasp on his sleeping companion. The black haired boy stopped surprised, sealing his own fate, as another hand managed to slip underneath him and also grasped the shirt.

Ross still laid on his side, but his position was now even more precarious than before. He was now acutely aware that Alba was a mere millimetres from him and if he leaned just slightly backwards they would touch. Hero’s hands were now wrapped around him and Ross realized that he could faintly feel Alba’s shallow breath on the back of his neck.

Situation was alarming at this point. Whatever was stopping him from sleeping was now ravaging his body, sharpening his senses and making him extremely sensitive to everything. He could feel the warmth of the hands around him and the body lying so close to him. He could smell the soap that Alba used, but also a bit of sweat, because both of their pyjama shirts weren’t cleaned recently. He felt his throat going dry and gulped loudly. His heart was beating so fast that he could hear it.

He was grateful that at least he couldn’t see Alba, because he was sure that if he did… something would occur. He wasn’t sure what, because thinking now was difficult. He was pretty sure he was experiencing sensory overload and right now he could only lay motionless and hope nothing more would happen.

And so time went by…

After unspecified amount of time Ross retained some composure. He still felt agitated, but at least he could analyse his situation once again. It seemed that whatever was tormenting him right now was somehow caused by Alba. But what was that? Some kind of illness? Magical illness? Illness that causes people to feel hot, confused, sensitive and vulnerable when in proximity of a specific person?

Oh.

_Oh._

Ross finally connected the dots. He wasn’t stupid after all, just inexperienced.

And full of denial.

No. No. No. NO. This wasn’t possible. It was stupid. Idiotic. Unbelievable. Nonsensical. Ridiculous. Absurd. Laughable. Pathetic. Preposterous. Ludicrous. Foolish. Asinine. And thousand other negatively defined adjectives.

He definitely wasn’t. No, he would never. Not towards someone like Alba. Because he… _He_ was Alba. A dorky, clumsy Hero. What kind of loser would ever…?!

As if on cue, Alba shifted slightly and once again muttered. The dark haired boy’s thought stopped, as he waited for the situation to develop.

“…nnn…stop… stop it Soldier… I said… nnn…” Hero muttered and pressed his forehead to the area between Soldier’s shoulder blades. 

After that the younger boy continued to sleep soundly. 

Ross could still move his left hand, so he slowly raised it above the blanket and then hit himself in the face.

He couldn’t do it too hard, because he could accidentally wake up Alba, but even then it helped temporarily.

He needed to escape, because if he didn’t… 

He wasn’t sure what would occur then, but he knew he would deeply regret it whatever that was.

At this point waking up Alba was out of question. Ross was too flustered to risk any further embarrassments. Instead, he had to escape from Hero’s grasp.

Literally.

Unfortunately, there was no way to make him let go of the shirt. Therefore, the only way to escape would be for Ross to slide out of it. This was also a hazardous plan, because it would involve a lot of movement and movement could led to touch and Soldier really didn’t want to think about touching, because his mind was threatening to take him places if he did.

He tried to move lower part of his body closer to bed’s edge to make sure he won’t accidentally encounter Alba’s legs during his escape. Hero’s arms were already a formidable foes and any additional limbs would probably put him in even greater pinch.

After he managed that he slowly tried to move his corpus. To Soldier’s terror it was becoming very obvious that to escape he would have to brush against Alba and he stopped for a moment, because he needed to prepare himself mentally for that. 

He resumed his struggle after taking several deep breaths. Ross used his free left hand to lift Alba’s hand that was lying on him and slipped slightly lower. There was a limit of how far he could move right now, because he couldn’t slip his arms and head while holding Alba’s hand. So he stopped.

Which, as he immediately realized, was a mistake because right now Hero was breathing very directly into his neck. It was slightly ticklish, but more than that it also felt sort of pleasant. He moved his hand to continue with his escape, but the steady huffs of warm air that he felt made him hesitate. Ross instinctively started to match his breathing to Alba’s and for a moment he could sense a connection between them. It was something intangible and yet very sensual. The hot sensation in his stomach didn’t feel like a nausea as much as a longing now. Ross wanted to indulge himself. 

Giving in to instinct he leaned backwards, wanting to touch, connect. Feel the warm body next to him. Feel complete. And he did. For a glorious moment he felt all the worries, all the pain dissipate in the warmness. He was safe and not alone. A strange excitement and desires crept upon him now that he had given himself some allowance. He wanted to intertwine, to…

Ross bit himself into wrist. The pain spread through his body making him snap out of the trance. He moved away from Alba, returning to his previous position.

He really needed to escape.

Soldier forcibly pushed away all the sensations he experienced just now, knowing that they will surely return to haunt him during the nights to come. However, he had to worry about the present. He stretched his arms so they could slip out of the sleeves and then proceeded to crawl his way out of the shirt. It forced him to be very careful and methodical and also to experience the agonizing feeling of brushing against Alba, but he had succeed. He slipped out of shirt and quickly slid from the bed.

Ross almost kissed the floor realizing he was free, albeit shirtless. The last… extremely long amount of time, which felt like an eternity, was one of the most exhausting experiences in his life. He stole a glance at the bed and realized that Alba was clenching his shirt close to himself, effectively hugging it. 

Somehow this didn’t help him calm down at all.

In the end he went to have shower again.

This time colder.

*

Alba woke up when sun was already up for a long time. He yawned and then realized he was clenching something.

“A shirt?” he looked in confusion at the piece of clothing that wasn’t his.

“Could you give this back?” A very unamused voice addressed Alba. He turned to see Ross sitting on a chair with a very annoyed expression. He was already fully clothed, armour included.

Hero once again looked at the black shirt he was holding.

“Um, why do I have it?” He asked visibly confused.

“When I was dressing up I carelessly threw it next to you and you must have taken it for some plush toy, because you grabbed it as if your life depended on it and refused to give back,” Ross explained maintaining his poker face and not blinking even once.

“Ah, I did…?” Alba cast his eyes down in embarrassment.

“You did. So will you give it back?”

“Ah, sorry,” Hero quickly got out of the bed and returned the piece of clothing. However, after that he remained in place studying Ross’ face.

“What is it?” Soldier asked obviously irritated.

“Um, did something happen? You don’t look well,” Alba said leaning slightly closer to make sure he wasn’t imaging it.

He was rewarded with being punched in the stomach.

“I had stomach problems, so I couldn’t sleep tonight,” Ross explained. It wasn’t in fact a lie at least from his point of view.

To his horror, even after migrating to the floor Ross didn’t sleep much, because the waves of fondness and denial came in turns successfully robbing him of sleep. He managed to convince himself that whatever happened to him was indeed the strange stomach problem, but even then he slept only two to three hours.

And even if it was a stomach problem it was definitely Alba’s fault.

“You don’t have to hit me, because you couldn’t sleep!” the younger boy shouted, kneeling on the floor as he clutched his stomach.

“I feel dejected after suffering the whole night alone. It was unfair,” Ross explained himself and he truly believed it was extremely unfair that he was the only one to experience such anguish.

“And I was suffering the whole previous day!” Alba retorted as he stood up, but then paused realizing something. “Um, is that why you haven’t woken me up? If you feel so bad, next time wake me up! I will try to help,” Hero offered earnestly.

For some reason Ross hung his head hearing that.

“Um, Soldier, are you still feeling unwell?” the younger boy asked approaching his companion again.

Which showed he clearly didn’t learn from experience, because his worries were yet again rewarded with an uppercut to stomach.

Alba slid to the floor again.

“Why?” He asked with tears in his eyes.

He could hear that Ross muttered something which sounded strangely like “dense idiot”, but it might have been auditory hallucination. Soldier moved his hands as if he wanted to hide his face for some reason.

Guess his stomach was still acting up.


End file.
